David Yates signs up to direct Doctor Who movie

November 14th, 2011
david-yates-signs-up-to-direct-doctor-who-movie

Various reports have surfaced tonight suggesting that David Yates has signed up to a direct a new Doctor Who movie.

According to Variety, the director – who is best known for his work on the Harry Potter series – is currently developing the film with BBC Worldwide’s Programming and Production VP, Jane Tranter. He explained: “We are looking at writers now. We’re going to spend two to three years to get it right, as it needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena.”

While there’s not much to say about the film itself at the moment, he did reveal that its story won’t necessarily follow on directly from the television series. “Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic,” he said. “We have to put that aside and start from scratch. The notion of the time-travelling Time Lord is such a strong one, because you can express story and drama in any dimension.”

In terms of writers, he added: “We want a British sensibility, but having said that, Steve Kloves wrote Potter films and captured that, so we’re looking at American writers too.”

Should the new Doctor Who movie "start from scratch"?

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So… what do you think!? It seems the years of rumours are finally getting somewhere!

47 comments on this article
  1. Vanessa
    November 17th, 2011 at 9.17pm | #1

    @Calli Arcale
    The article I had read said starting from scratch. RTD was bringing back Doctor Who and updating it for the 21st century but still meant to be a continuation on not starting from scratch. That said today I have seen a bit on BBC’s Doctor Who website about it saying BBC Worldwide are possibly doing it but there is no script, cast, or plot yet.

  2. Vanessa
    November 17th, 2011 at 9.24pm | #2

    @Vanessa
    I forgot to add does that mean even who will play the Doctor? I came at this from my RSS reader this time and just spotted its this website I saw the starting from scratch bit. Doctor Who wouldn’t be Doctor Who if it isn’t a continuation from before- preferably with a regeneration if you have a different person playing the Doctor (with RTD bringing it back the big gap made that less necessary so long as it is meant to have happened prior to the first episode). That is the nature of Doctor Who and one that isn’t is probably going to be hated by present fans so it is only for non-fans.

  3. Grace
    November 21st, 2011 at 7.05am | #3

    I wonder where I could submit my name to be one of the writers!

  4. Calli Arcale
    November 23rd, 2011 at 9.44pm | #4

    @TWWL
    TWWL — that is correct; the 1966 Dalek movies were definitely not part of the canon, nor were they intended to be. In fact, they’re largely remakes of actual Doctor Who epsiodes.

  5. Calli Arcale
    November 24th, 2011 at 5.00am | #5

    I’m rewatching “An Unearthly Child” in honor of the anniversary, and the DVD also has the pilot. I hadn’t seen the pilot before, so I went ahead and watched it. While the reference in the actual broadcast first episode is ambiguous (it tells us the Doctor and Susan come from the future, from a different planet, from a different civilization), the unaired pilot is more explicit — the Doctor and Susan are clear that they belong to a different race, one which was technologically advanced before humans discovered fire. So the series creators wanted them to be aliens, but viewers and those not involved in the first story could be excused for not understanding that quite right.

    Note: although the Dalek movies are not canon, they did influence the relaunched series. The design of the TARDIS interior since Eccleston clearly borrows from that TARDIS interior set.

  6. AnnaChildofGallifrey
    May 13th, 2012 at 3.27pm | #6

    If a new actor is cast as the Doctor for the movie he will be hated by fans. It should be a continuation of the TV series, not a Hollywood reboot for non-fans. :)

  7. AnnaChildofGallifrey
    May 13th, 2012 at 3.33pm | #7

    Despite what I just posted I really am very excited! I can’t wait to see how it turns out! :D
    PS: I’ve just got tickets to The Crash of the Elysium!!!!!!!! (My excitement justifies the use of exessive exclamation marks) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)!!!!!!!!!!!!

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